Customer Reviews

The Explorers: Stories of Discovery and Adventure from the Australian Frontier

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Look at a map of Australia. The interior of the continent will be marked with rivers, lakes and localities. But if you go there the rivers will be dry, the lakes just salt and the localities just a handfull of people. This collection of first impressions by the first Europeans to see this wide brown land reveals their awe at the beauty and terror of the alien and essentially empty landscape.

Drawn from journals, diaries and archives, these pieces convey the struggle for survival of Europeans in an environment where they were physically and culturally at a loss. The descriptions of early contacts with Aboriginal Australians written by the explorers themselves contain valuable insights into attitudes which informed the initial gropings for understanding across a vast cultural divide. As such they provide a sobering backdrop to inform us of the factual, cultural and emotional origins of the reconciliation movement in Australia.

Flannery lets the pieces speak for themselves with minimal introductions to set the scene. The result is a readable and moving story, and good history at the same time.

This is an anthology of excerpts from Australian Explorers journals ranging from early sixteenth century European Explorers to Australians in the early 20th century. Flannery's introduction for each provides an excellent, concise biography and set up to each explorer's excerpt. In many of the excerpts, an explorer faces death and disaster. The most intriguing initially was Charles Sturt writing of his attempt to find the mythical lake in the center of Australia. He brings a boat, experiences weather so hot it bursts a thermometer his party carries, they suffer from extreme scurvy, and Sturt's desire to be the first to reach the center of Australia. The second explorer I read in this collection was Ernest Giles. His except focuses on an expedition with his assistant Gibson, who goes for help and manages to get lost, and then Giles slowly makes his way back to base camp. Reading The Explorers fascinated me enough that I wanted to read more about specific explorers like Giles, but also about Australian explorers in general.

My only criticism of Flannery's book is that it ends. I found myself wanting to read more of each story. But within a moment of turning to a new chapter, I was engrossed in another adventure. The Explorers is an outstanding selection of historical pieces and a fine example of the editor's art. First-person accounts like this truly offer a window into the minds and times of the people and places involved. (I recommend "Eyewitness to History" for those who enjoy this book.)

What possesses a person to set off into the trackless wastes of Australia, with the almost certain knowledge that death lies waiting to welcome them into his scrawny arms?
Reading this book gives you some of the answers and some of the idea of the pain and suffering undergone by these explorers (and in some cases the hapless Aborigines coerced into seeking water).
There are some amazingly good writers within these pages, quite unexpected when you consider that many of them were ex-convicts or self-taught (and comparing them to some contemporary American explorers); there are some delightful descriptive passages and the occasional bout of whimsy, especially the anecdote of how 'Rocket' got his name - I was in hoots!
An excellent read, which encouraged me to order several old copies of explorers' accounts.
Thoroughly recommended!

If you enjoy reading about Australia's explorers and navigators, you will enjoy this book. Highly entertaining, educational and unbelievable. I also enjoyed the Fatal Shore, so if you enjoyed that book, it is likely you will enjoy this 'diary'.

When I studied history for matriculation in New South Wales back in 1958-1959, there was no subject available to me called "Australian History". The two history subjects available were Ancient History and Modern History. Modern History was, in fact, the history of modern Europe. These days, it seems inconceivable that the school system at matriculation level back then could completely ignore the history of Australia, and the history of its nearest neighbours. Although the European settlement of Australia is relatively recent, the Aboriginal history of Australia covers millennia. The former received scant attention in earlier school years, the latter, none at all. (One presumes that Australian history is now accorded the place it deserves in the school curriculum, and receives a fuller and more balanced treatment). Because of this background, I found Tim Flannery's book of enormous interest. The meagre Australian history once taught consisted of drawing maps of the routes taken by explorers, and little else, or so it seems to fading memory. Tim Flannery relates his own experience: "The men were just names, their journeys snail-trails across paper. No attempt was made to bring exploring to life, perhaps because the inconvenient details about Aborigines and barren wastes would have simply got in the way of the main message: that the Europeans had triumphed". We are indebted to Tim Flannery for redressing the balance in this book, in the course of which we can read some superb writing that would otherwise be hard to come by. Some Australian history may be dull, but the history of exploration, as told by the explorers themselves, is instructive, exciting, and still relevant.

This book consists of brief excerpts from journals, letters and diaries of those foolish or brave enough to push beyond the known world along Australia's seaboards.

These explorers demonstrated unfathomable foolishness, unquenchable curiosity, bullheaded ethnocentricity, and, in too few cases, a passion for discovery for its own sake. As a reader you will be horrified, entertained, and enlightened by their adventures and misadventures.

I just returned from a trip to Australia and took this book along with me to read. It was perfect for a visitor with little knowledge of Australian history beyond Hughes' "Fatal Shore" (another great read).

I got this as a gift for my boyfriend because he's really interested in Australia. Listening to him talk about it makes me want to read it too!

Australia's small history makes a book like this diffifult to stay interested in. Of course, we are a lucky country fortunate enough to have prospered from these fine explorers and Flannery captures this brilliantly. But there is a time when the discoveries of a new animal or native remind the reader of how quickly one can lose their mind to something else as one can't help but take it for granted or compare their countries history with one far greater and more enlightening from a place such as Great Britain or America. However, Flannery is aiming to make Australian history sit right up there amongst the cream of the crop for a rich past - we as the reader know this isn't possible but feel a sense of pride in what these explorers did to help develop our free and thriving country. The author does not have much to contribute within the book. He writes a few brief footnotes or may stretch himself to an introduction of a small to mid paragraph for each. Yet, we must remind ourselves this is a history book so there is not much room for creativity. I suggest this book is worthwhile for someone passionate or interested in the Australian history, but if you are made to read this whether it be school or uni do it in sections. Otherwise, you will find it tedious. In the end you will find it rewarding - especially (as an Australian resident) when you next visit Botany Bay, Cape York or wherever it may be.......you will stop and think at just how lucky we are.